


All I Want For Christmas

by vix_spes



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Friendship, M/M, Romance, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-29
Updated: 2011-12-29
Packaged: 2018-05-01 03:28:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5190452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vix_spes/pseuds/vix_spes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Morgana's going to get them together this Christmas if it's the last thing she does.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All I Want For Christmas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ronsoftie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ronsoftie/gifts).



They’d all come to the mutual decision that they were going to get Leon and Gwaine together this Christmas if it was the last thing they did. They were getting thoroughly sick of the two dancing around each other, flirting and eye-fucking but then having one-night stands and short-lived relationships with other people because they didn’t have the courage to take that leap beyond friendship and say something. Although recently, well over the last year or so, Leon appeared to have accepted the fact that he had feelings for Gwaine that were beyond simple friendship and that he wanted more but he was keeping quiet and refusing to say anything. The two of them were just absolutely infuriating and had led to a ridiculous number rants about how useless men were (from the women at least). Morgana and Gwen had tried to persuade him to speak up and just say something to Gwaine so many times, so convinced were they that Gwaine returned his feelings, but Leon was adamant that he wasn’t going to say anything. So, Morgana and Gwen had taken charge and, after bullying the boys into helping, had come up with a list of things and activities that they were going to do in an attempt to get Leon or Gwaine or both of them to admit to their feelings. Most of these activities they did every year when it came to Christmas but this year they were going to pull out all of the stops when it came to meddling and opportunities. This attempt at matchmaking had been going on for at least a year now. They had tried to get them under the mistletoe last year and had failed miserably and when even copious amounts of alcohol had failed to work at various points across the year, they had decided to ramp up their efforts this year. They had come up with a list of four things that would hopefully get the two of them together in time for the huge Christmas party that Morgana threw ever year.

Morgana’s parties were legendary and had been for years, second only to her New Year’s Eve parties. She was given free rein on Uther’s London townhouse and a rather large budget on certain conditions. Firstly, that she ensured that at least the dinner and the first portion of the evening could be attended by friends of the Pendragon family (who would then leave before the true drunkenness and debauchery started) and secondly, that she would organise a party for Uther for all of his business associates rather than friends and be hostess for him. She agreed every year because honestly, the budget that she was given was too good to turn down. The role also gave her an incredible amount of power; she had more dirt on the inner workings of half the politicians, their wives, half the finance industry and the majority of the movers and shakers in London’s cultural society than anybody else. More times than people could count they had actually forgotten the previous nights events due to alcohol consumption until the photos appeared and you always wanted to stay on Morgana’s good side to ensure that the photos didn’t appear to the general public.

The people who were always safe were her close circle of friends. No matter what they did, no matter _who_ Gwaine did, they were always safe from humiliation. This year though, if Leon refused to man up and say something, if the mistletoe failed to work, then Morgana was resorting to blackmail in order to get the two of them together. They would thank her for it eventually. Besides, just because her friends were safe from the threat of humiliation it didn’t mean that she didn’t keep evidence just in case it should become necessary at some point. Arthur and Gwaine in particular had rather large folders of humiliating material that she normally kept locked away but could draw on should the need arise. She was so convinced that Leon and Gwaine belonged together that nothing was going to stop her from ensuring that that happened this year.

                                                                                            ~*~

To be perfectly honest, they weren’t holding out too much hope for the first activity on their list which was watching the Christmas lights being switched on in Trafalgar Square. It wasn’t exactly going to be romantic but then maybe that didn’t matter; they had just thought that it would be a nice thing to do where they could all break up into couples and coincidentally leave Leon and Gwaine by themselves. At the very least it would be infinitely better than trying to brave the crowds on Regent Street or Oxford Street just to see some crap teenage band push a button. At least with Trafalgar Square, although there would be huge crowds, it was actually December rather than the middle of November, and there were carols being sung for the audience to join in with. The carols started in the early evening with the lights being switched on at about seven pm. Once that had been done, the event would be open in seconds so Morgana had planned on them crossing Embankment Bridge to the German market on the Southbank for some festive food and drink. They had all agreed to meet at the steps of St. Martin-in-the-Field just so that they wouldn’t be running around and trying to find each other in the crowds and then, depending on how big the crowds were in the end, they could either stay where they were or walk across the road into Trafalgar Square itself. They had agreed to meet at six-thirty with Merlin promising to do a Starbucks run on the way in in an attempt to combat the chill wind but at six-fifteen Morgana got a text from Leon to say that he was still stuck at work and wouldn’t be able to make the lights switch-on but that he would try and meet them on the Southbank in an hour or so. She had been disappointed but had been placated when everybody else had shown up on time and with Merlin bearing a piping hot gingerbread latte for her.

Everyone had grumbled when she had passed on Leon’s message but she had felt particularly smug at seeing the disappointment cross Gwaine’s face before it was quickly disguised. He had then proceeded to flirt outrageously with a group of girls stood next to them in the crowd. She knew she was right about those two so why couldn’t they just get their acts together and stop being idiots. Well, it was really Gwaine who was being the difficult one she mused as they wandered across Embankment Bridge to the German market on the Southbank. She had the feeling that he was too scared to admit to his feelings and so he hid behind them, flirting with everybody else that moved. It didn’t matter though because she was going to get him to admit to everything and have kissed Leon by the end of her Christmas party come hell or high water. She was going to have her work cut out for her but then she saw the way that Gwaine’s face lit up as a rather harassed Leon arrived from work, the way that he slung an arm around Leon’s shoulders and leant in just a little bit closer than he would with anybody else and she knew that her goals were achievable.

                                                                                             ~*~

Things seemed to be progressing a bit better with the second item on their list of activities; ice-skating at Somerset House. It wasn’t the only temporary ice-rink in London but it was by far the most suitable for what Gwen and Morgana had in mind; the rink at the Natural History Museum had been rejected outright due to the number of children that would be running around, Gwen wasn’t a fan of the rink at Canary Wharf and none of them really wanted to pay the extortionate prices necessary to go skating at the Tower of London. So, Somerset House had been picked as the right venue. It was central enough so that they could all get to it easily after work and, because of where it was situated and the opening times that it operated there were fewer children around to affect the atmosphere. They had considered going to one of the club nights but then Gwen had pointed out that if they did that then there were too many opportunities for Gwaine to chicken out and try and pull somebody else rather than Leon. They had also gone to the effort of discovering whether or not Gwaine could actually ice-skate (and apparently he couldn’t). It wasn’t something that they had done as a group before but Gwen and Lance had been frequent visitors to the Somerset House rink for years and Percival had been an enforcer on the university ice hockey team so he was more than capable on the ice. As for the rest of them, Arthur, Morgana and Leon had been travelling and socialising in the same circles since they were children and had often spent their Christmas’ in the Alps or even in the States skiing and had learnt to skate at the same time. Later, when Arthur and Merlin had started dating, they had taken him with them one winter and had discovered that, while Merlin was a complete and utter klutz on skis (he had tripped over his feet and gone tumbling head over heels down the tamest of the slopes), he was actually incredibly graceful on skates and had taken to it like a duck to water.

It would appear that Gwaine on skates was the same as Merlin on skis; a total disaster. They’d all collected their skates (or rather Merlin, Gwen, Lance and Gwaine had; the rest of them had dug them out from the back of their wardrobes and cupboards) and laced them on before venturing onto the ice when it was time for their go. Gwen and Lance were off immediately, skating around holding hands and generally looking all lovey-dovey and a bit sickening really, copied swiftly by Arthur and Merlin. Percival zoomed off, racing laps and dodging the slow-moving couples and, ignoring the panicked look sent her way, Morgana hared off after him leaving Leon to fend for himself with Gwaine. He certainly had his work cut out for him. Gwaine was currently clinging to the sideboard and couldn’t seem to get his feet underneath him; every time he tried he flailed rather comically and his feet went sliding up from underneath him. Leon rolled his eyes and moved towards him, grabbing him under the armpits and hauling him upwards. Slowly and with infinite patience, he coached Gwaine through the incredibly slow process (for Gwaine at least) of how to skate without falling over, resorting to skating backwards and towing Gwaine in order to help him. Finally, when it seemed that Gwaine had just about got the hang of what he was doing he swapped positions so that they were skating side-by-side, with Gwaine clinging to Leon every so often when he thought there was the risk of him falling flat on his arse. It was whilst doing this that they were stopped by a group of women that had been watching them and giggling slightly.

“I’m sorry but we just had to tell you that you teaching your boyfriend to skate has been absolutely adorable. The two of you look really cute together.”

“Boyfriends? Us?” Gwaine snorted with laughter. “I think you’ve got the wrong idea. We’re definitely not.” He laughed again, not noticing as Leon stiffened slightly next to him. “I don’t do relationships.”

Leon couldn’t listen to anymore beyond that and he skated towards the exit and the bar without saying anything, only turning round when Gwaine called out to him.

“Leon! Where you going mate? How am I supposed to get round the rink now?”

“Sorry, I’m not feeling too great. I think I might have a migraine. I’m sure one of these lovely ladies will give you a hand. Give my apologies to Morgana will you?”

                                                                                        ~*~

They were down to the last thing on their list and were starting to lose hope. Every time they thought they’d made some progress then there were two steps backwards instead. She had thought that they had made serious progress  with the ice-skating until Leon had told her about the conversation with the girls but then when they were decorating the tree at Uther’s townhouse the amount of smouldering looks and eye-sex that had been going on between the two of them had been enough to power a small town and she had thought that they were on the verge of a breakthrough but then Gwaine had to go and fuck it all up again when they went to the carol concert at St. Paul’s. They had had a lovely evening and just as it had been suggested that they go for a drink, Gwaine had announced that he had a date and was off to meet some woman. The look of devastation on Leon’s face had been heartbreaking but he had covered it quickly and announced that he needed to go home and look over some paperwork for the following day. Morgana was on the verge of locking them in a room until they got their acts together.  They were now completely out of ideas, bar shoving them underneath the mistletoe at Morgana’s Christmas party, and should this final activity of relaxing and watching Christmas movies fail, that was exactly what they were going to do. They had commandeered Arthur’s flat for this particular event for two reasons and two reasons alone. Firstly, Arthur was obsessed with technology and would spend ridiculous amounts of money on the latest gadgets. As a result, they had an obnoxiously large flat-screen TV with HD and all the other accoutrements. They also had a distinct lack of seating. There were two sofas – one a three-seater (that could really seat four people if you snuggled up) and the other a smaller two-seater – and then two arm chairs. Sitting on the floor was completely out of question because it was one of those horrendously uncomfortable things with no carpet, just the odd rug scattered around. The apartment was one of those hideous contemporary monstrosities and Morgana was convinced that that was why Merlin hadn’t moved in with him; she really couldn’t imagine Merlin living in somewhere like that, he was much more at home in his cosy little flat in Greenwich.

The pizza had been ordered, the supermarket raided for alcohol and junk food and the cheesy Christmas movies dug out from the back of DVD collections. Morgana had fixed the arrival times so that by the time Leon arrived and then Gwaine, there was only one seating option left; the two-seater sofa. Leon smiled at Morgana and Gwen as he walked in and saw the seating arrangements; he had cottoned onto their games now and he wasn’t complaining if it got him what he wanted. He simply took of his coat and scarf, ruffling his hair to get rid of the worst of the snow, before toeing off his boots and accepting the beer that Arthur handed him before making himself comfortable at one end of the sofa.

“So we’re abandoning subtlety then are we?”

Gwen and Morgana pulled their best innocent looks. “We have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Of course you don’t, so you’re not trying to set me up with Gwaine are you?”

Before either of them could answer, they heard Gwaine’s voice coming from the hallway. “My ears are burning … was someone talking about me?” He padded into the room in socked feet with a beer in his hand, hair slightly damp from the falling snow like Leon and grinned as he saw the seating arrangements.

“Are we going to have a cuddle darling?” He grinned widely as his comment earned him a slight blush from Leon. “Right then, shall we get this show on the road? What are we watching first?”

Leon pressed further back into the armrest at one end of the sofa and sent a warning glance at Gwen and Morgana, unseen by Gwaine and mouthed at them _“Just be careful, please._ ”

                                                                                  ~*~

The party was in full swing now that the formal dinner was over and the older guests had taken their leave, music blaring and alcohol flowing. The house was beautifully decorated in the colour scheme that Morgana had picked out and all of the guests were attired in formal evening wear, the women bright flashes of colour amongst the tuxedo-wearing men. She clocked Arthur and Merlin stood with Uther and then the rest of their friends in a corner near the fireplace but there was no sign of Leon which didn’t bode well.

“Morgana, I need to have a word with you.” Leon had cornered Morgana and, taking her by the arm, led her into a small alcove where nobody would hear what he was saying. “I need you to lay off with the whole trying to set Gwaine and I up.”

“What? Why?”

“Look, I really appreciate what you’re trying to do but it’s not going to work.”

“What do you mean it’s not going to work? Of course, it’s still going to work … progress has been made the last few weeks.”

“How exactly has any of what has happened been progress Morgana? He’s still dating other women and you should have heard him at Somerset House when those women thought that we were dating.”

“What about our movie night when the two of you were getting all snuggly on the sofa? Surely that’s progress?”

“Morgana,” Leon sighed heavily. “Gwaine had had a fair amount to drink by the time we were getting all ‘snuggly’. Look he’s a natural flirt and an affectionate drunk, if you hadn’t rigged the seating arrangements then he’d have snuggled with Percival the state that he was in. I know that you mean well but seriously, nothing is going to happen between Gwaine and I so please can you just leave it alone.”

“You don’t get it do you?” Morgana wasn’t just going to back down with this, not when she knew just how right she was. “Gwaine is as crazy about you as you are about him he’s just being a coward about it. He just needs something to prod him into realising that he loves you.”

“I don’t like the sound of that. What are you up to Morgana? Shouldn’t you be playing hostess for Uther rather than scheming and match-making?”

Morgana batted her eyelashes at him, giving him her most pleading look. “Please, I just have one more thing that I want to try and then I promise, if that doesn’t work, then I won’t say or try anything else to get you and Gwaine together.”

“Okay, one more thing and if that doesn’t work then that’s it.” He waited for Morgana to nod her agreement and then sighed, “Go on then, what is it?” He knew he was going to regret it when Morgana’s eyes brightened and she disappeared temporarily before returning with a rather good-looking man.

“Leon, this is Ewan, Ewan meet Leon. This is the guy that I was telling you about.”

Those words set Leon on edge slightly. “You’ve been telling him about me? What exactly have you been saying Morgana?”

“I’ve just explained the situation with Gwaine to him. Ewan’s here to flirt with you a little bit and generally make Gwaine jealous. Look, I promise that this is going to work, all you need to do is enjoy yourself and look as though you’re having a good time.”

Half an hour later, Leon reluctantly had to admit that Morgana had been right. He was enjoying himself much more than he had thought. Ewan was a lovely guy and, he had explained to Leon as soon as Morgana had left, he wanted nothing out of this. He had just transferred to her office and his civil partner would be joining him in London in the New Year so he was just doing this as a favour to a friend. As he drank a bit more, he relaxed into conversation with Ewan and various other people that he knew, trying not to stare at Gwaine all the time while reciprocating the gentle flirting that Ewan was engaging in as well as returning the small (and very innocent!) touches that Ewan was bestowing upon him. In doing so, he failed to notice that Gwaine hadn’t taken his eyes off Leon all evening, hadn’t flirted with a single person, had barely touched his drink (the glass was simply held in an iron grip) and, if looks could kill, Ewan would be dead at least five times over by now. All of this was noted by an ecstatic Gwen and a rather smug Morgana.

Leon had left Ewan temporarily and wandered over to the French windows leading out to the terrace which had been left open so that guests wanting to smoke or in need of fresh air could get what they needed. He was feeling slightly overheated and wanted a few minutes to himself. This obviously had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he hadn’t seen hide nor hair (and it was hard to miss the hair) of Gwaine all evening and was feeling slightly despondent. He had just reached the doors and was about to step outside when a hand wrapped itself around his bicep. Spinning around he saw a glowering Gwaine.

“Who’s the guy that you’ve been with all night? What are you doing with him?”

“Gwaine? What the hell are you doing?”

“Who’s that guy? Are you dating him?” Gwaine was insistent and his eyes were flashing furiously.

“You’ve avoided me all evening and the first thing you say to me is demand who I’ve been talking to? What if I am dating him?” He relented as Gwaine visibly tensed at those words. “Ok, I’m not dating him – I only met him tonight. He’s called Ewan and he works with Morgana. As for what I’m doing with him, what do you care? I don’t belong to you Gwaine. I’m simply enjoying myself.”

“And what? You’re going to kiss him? Go home with him at the end of the night?”

“And what if I do? It’s none of your business Gwaine, we’re not in a relationship! You made your feelings on me perfectly clear at Somerset House.”

“You don’t have a clue how I feel about you and I know we’re not in a relationship but we bloody well should be!”

“WHAT?” Leon couldn’t believe this, all of this faffing around and all it took was for Leon to flirt a bit with another guy.

“Look, I know I’ve been a dick and a flirt but I didn’t know how to say that I want you without fucking things up.”

“You want me?” This was exactly what Leon had wanted to hear, so much so that he couldn’t quite believe that he was hearing it.

“Oh for god’s sake, will the two of you just kiss? That mistletoe is there for a reason!”

Leon swung around and blushed as he saw they had an audience of their friends and miscellaneous guests, Morgana front and centre. “MORGANA!”

“Well she has got a point and I think we should oblige the lady, don’t you?”

Leon’s answer was lost in Gwaine’s mouth as the Irishman leant in and kissed him harshly with more enthusiasm than finesse, teeth clashing slightly and noses bumping. Leon wasn’t exactly complaining as he returned the kiss, hands sliding into Gwaine’s hair as he moaned loudly. Slowly, the kiss calmed down, the desperation and relief that they were finally kissing receding as the kiss turned into a slow slide of lips and tongues. They were completely lost to everything but the sensations as they explored each other’s mouths, hands starting to wander slightly, Leon biting down on Gwaine’s lower lip as the other man’s hands grazed his arse. They were oblivious to the sounds of people clearing their throats and coughing loudly in an attempt to stop them when hands started to wander even more and the moans became audible.

Finally, their friends seemed to realise that they weren’t going to stop any time soon and started moving people away from the French windows and the now occupied bunch of mistletoe. “Right, time to move on ladies and gents … Leon, Gwaine please take this somewhere else before you start losing the clothes. You know where the spare bedrooms are. Morgana, come on move! Stop being a voyeur.”

“Hey! I want to watch, I’ve invested heavily in these two… and just look at them; it’s seriously hot.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you would prefer to comment on LJ, you can do so [here](http://vix-spes.livejournal.com/78985.html)


End file.
